Doctor Who S10
Jul. 3rd, 2017 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyHot damn this was the best series of NuWho. But the finale was kind of a typical finale, in that it was a let-down from the incredible penultimate episode. Which is not to say that it's bad, so much as I'm just really glad we get one more episode with Capaldi because if he has to leave (*tears*) it should be on a high note.
And the thing is I dislike almost all the season finales, because they illustrate the biggest flaws both Moff and RTD have with writing arcs, which is EPIC SET-UP followed by not knowing how to conclude all of the plot in a narratively satisfying way.
The problem is that I figured out a way to fix it.
A few things bothered me, namely:
1) Neither the Master or Missy had any effect on the plot. The Cybermen would have still happened without the Master's intervention; the Doctor explicitly says so. Bill wouldn't have become a Cyberman, but that's really it. Nor did the Doctor's season-long attempt to redeem Missy have any narrative consequence; he doesn't get to find out that he was right, she doesn't really do anything but create a finite time loop in her lifespan that will be broken the second the show wants to use the Master again, and the episode would have been stronger without either of them.
2) Bill's exit, while good, is the same as Clara's exit.
3) Too much of the Doctor being an action hero, not enough of the Doctor trying to talk people out of things.
4) The presence of the old Cybermen drive home just how rubbish the new Cybermen are, also I still don't like that they can fly.
These are generally mild critiques in a season that basically did everything I ever wanted DW to do, don't get me wrong. But I woke up this morning and realized...
If Nardole wasn't in the season, the last episode would have been way stronger.
Hear me out on this: No Nardole. The Doctor still has his plan to blow up the level, taking all the Cybermen with him. Someone still has to help the children escape. Bill can't because she's useful and also she will eventually succumb to her programming. Who will lead the kids to safety and protect them?
Missy.
Missy suddenly has a purpose for being there, and a chance to prove that she's redeemed herself. She gets the powerful exchange about whether it's more badass to die fighting or to live the rest of your life protecting scared, helpless, and most of all boring humans. Her sacrifice isn't standing and fighting—it's the opposite of epic. It's doing the right thing for a small number of people that she doesn't actually give a shit about. It's suppressing her own instincts to sow terror and evil for long enough to eventually reach the top floor and escape.
She still runs off into the woods with the Master, still betrays him, and sends him back to his own TARDIS to regenerate. But instead of dying, she goes back. And agrees that the only way that she can change is by doing the boring, difficult work of saving a handful of humans.
(And then of course eventually gets bored and fucks off, leaving them all to die, because she's the fucking Master and a good Master makes no sense and is no fun, but that's for next season.)
Why did they not do this?
And the thing is I dislike almost all the season finales, because they illustrate the biggest flaws both Moff and RTD have with writing arcs, which is EPIC SET-UP followed by not knowing how to conclude all of the plot in a narratively satisfying way.
The problem is that I figured out a way to fix it.
A few things bothered me, namely:
1) Neither the Master or Missy had any effect on the plot. The Cybermen would have still happened without the Master's intervention; the Doctor explicitly says so. Bill wouldn't have become a Cyberman, but that's really it. Nor did the Doctor's season-long attempt to redeem Missy have any narrative consequence; he doesn't get to find out that he was right, she doesn't really do anything but create a finite time loop in her lifespan that will be broken the second the show wants to use the Master again, and the episode would have been stronger without either of them.
2) Bill's exit, while good, is the same as Clara's exit.
3) Too much of the Doctor being an action hero, not enough of the Doctor trying to talk people out of things.
4) The presence of the old Cybermen drive home just how rubbish the new Cybermen are, also I still don't like that they can fly.
These are generally mild critiques in a season that basically did everything I ever wanted DW to do, don't get me wrong. But I woke up this morning and realized...
If Nardole wasn't in the season, the last episode would have been way stronger.
Hear me out on this: No Nardole. The Doctor still has his plan to blow up the level, taking all the Cybermen with him. Someone still has to help the children escape. Bill can't because she's useful and also she will eventually succumb to her programming. Who will lead the kids to safety and protect them?
Missy.
Missy suddenly has a purpose for being there, and a chance to prove that she's redeemed herself. She gets the powerful exchange about whether it's more badass to die fighting or to live the rest of your life protecting scared, helpless, and most of all boring humans. Her sacrifice isn't standing and fighting—it's the opposite of epic. It's doing the right thing for a small number of people that she doesn't actually give a shit about. It's suppressing her own instincts to sow terror and evil for long enough to eventually reach the top floor and escape.
She still runs off into the woods with the Master, still betrays him, and sends him back to his own TARDIS to regenerate. But instead of dying, she goes back. And agrees that the only way that she can change is by doing the boring, difficult work of saving a handful of humans.
(And then of course eventually gets bored and fucks off, leaving them all to die, because she's the fucking Master and a good Master makes no sense and is no fun, but that's for next season.)
Why did they not do this?
